My dog has, rather suddenly, it seems, gotten old. Just yesterday she was a furry little bundle of apparently boundless energy, always on the go, ready to chase balls, sticks, squirrels, birds, butterflies, whatever moved past her field of vision. Now, even a walk down the driveway or across the field leaves her limping, out of breath, content to move no more than she has to-- her bed to the floor next to it, to the rug in my office, where she's lying now as I type this, back to bed, maybe out to lie on the deck or porch.
I called her energy "boundless," but she wasn't, in her heyday. She's an English Setter/Golden Retriever mix, so, as she ran through the woods leaping over stone walls, downed trees, bushes, with no regard for what might be on the other side, all you'd see would be white fur, tail and ears flowing in the breeze behind her. Occasionally, when she made one of those blind leaps, she'd give a sharp yelp when whatever was on the other side was maybe not the soft landing spot she was assuming, but she never seemed any the worse for them when she'd come back to check us out before dashing off again.
Now, as I watch her moving slowly and reluctantly around the house, I realize that that young thing is gone. We may see occasional returns to a semblance of the dog that used to be, but, as I said, there's a price paid for those returns to the thrilling days of yesteryear. When I scratch her now, run my hands over her, I feel a couple of troubling lumps or masses and wonder what lies ahead, and how far "ahead" is. And of course I think of the passage of my own life, of my own aging, and know that I can no longer leap tall buildings in a single bound, either. The best I can hope for is for someone to rub my ears, scratch my belly, give me a warm heart(h) to curl up on and, when the time comes, put me down easy.
Songs for an old dog getting older, then, this week. Among them:
Hey Packy Loudon Wainwright
Big Dog Lyle Lovett
Black Dog Jesse Winchester
Black Dog Led Zep
Black Dog Blues Dirk Hamilton
Black Eyed Dog Nick Drake
Damned Old Dog The Roches
Children And Dogs Graham Parker
Diamond Dogs David Bowie
Dog Sly & The Family Stone
The Dog Song Nellie McKay
Everything Reminds Me Of My Dog Jane Siberry
Dogs In Bed John Stewart
Dogsong (Sleep Dog Lullaby) The Be Good Tanyas
Dogs Pink Floyd
Good Dog Ska Bim Skala Bim
Good Dog, Happy Man Bill Frisell
Hey Bulldog The Beatles
Honeysuckle Dog Chris Smither
If Dogs Run Free Dylan
Little Brown Dog Taj Mahal
Mad Dog Lee Michaels
Moondog Daniel Lanois
One Man Dog James Taylor
To The Dogs Or Whoever Josh Ritter
Waggin' The Dog Railroad Earth
Old Blue The Byrds
Tuesday, from noon till two, on 91.5 FM, or wool.fm. On a frequency humans can hear. I'm Sirius (no, not the satellite radio network). The "real" one.
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